A combination of good police work and prioritisation has contributed to cannabis-related offences dropping about 50% in Southern courts in the past five years.
Southern district organised crime team leader Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis said police had made dealing with cannabis a priority, which, along with people having more choice about what drugs to buy, led to the decrease.
Synthetics and an influx of methamphetamine in Otago and Southland meant buyers needed to decide what drug they would spend their money on, he said.
Figures obtained by the Otago Daily Times through the Official Information Act show court action on 135 cases involving cultivating cannabis in the Southern district in 2011, while last year that figure had dropped to 79 - a 42.5% decrease.
Similarly, court action on dealing or trafficking plummeted 56% going from 102 cases to 45 in the same period.
‘‘There's still plenty of cannabis out there but ... there's only a certain amount of disposable cash that people have,'' Det Snr Sgt Inglis said.‘‘We had some major success in the last five years, as well, with some major cultivators in the Southern district.''
He pointed to the latestcannabis sting run throughout the country this year, Operation D, which netted Southern police 800 cannabis plants worth about $700,000 on the street.
What was most ‘‘concerning'' was the 30 modified firearms police had recovered from properties in the past two months where cannabis was found, he said.
Children had been present at some of the properties raided, he said.
Other districts across the country had also noted a decrease in cannabis-related court action over the same period, although the number in Northland, Bay of Plenty, Counties-Manukau and the Central North Island had remained reasonably steady.
